Random Humor at Work Bits & Bites

It’s time for another round of totally random bit & bites…

An Australian study, “Humor Helps the Boss’s Bottom Line,” found that in a survey of 2,500 employees, 84% said a fun working environment would make them more productive; 93% said humor at work helps lower stress; 55% said they’d would take less pay to have more fun at work.

Google has an intranet site called “Google Ideas” where employees can pitch ideas and/or submit suggestions for product improvements. Employees can weigh in with their opinion on suggested products with a rating system ranging from 0 (Dangerous/Harmful) to 5 (Great idea – make it so!).

A study in the International Journal of Humor Research found that both men and women prefer sarcastic humor when the target is…men!

A study co-authored by Martin Seligman, the author of Learned Optimism, found that humor was the “character strength” most strongly correlated to life satisfaction.

In the 18th century, humor was considered a cardinal virtue, as long as you only poked fun at the pompous, fake or conceited. (Not bad guidelines for the use of humor in today’s workplace.)

In a study on workplace communication and influence: The employees or leaders who are deemed to be most influential are those that have good verbal skills combined with excellence listening skills. People with poor listening skills were seen as far less influential, regardless of how good a speaker they were.

Inspiring service: You may have customers that are loyal in their behavior, but not loyal in their attitude. Do you know the difference and why it matters?

Inspiring cultures don’t just happen: Southwest Airlines has an elected “Culture Committee” of 96 employees.